Friday, September 16, 2016

National POW/MIA Recognition Day

Today
we commemorate National POW/MIA Recognition Day, when the nation honors
those service members who endured captivity and those whose remains
have yet to be recovered.

The day serves as a stark reminder of the risks and sacrifices that American service members and their families make every day.

National
POW/MIA Recognition Day is a reminder to all Americans that as long as
members of our Armed Forces remain unaccounted for, America will bring
our fullest resources to bear in finding them and bringing them home. It
is a promise we make not only to the families of our captured and our
missing, but to all who have worn the uniform. The
POW/MIA flag flies over the White House, the Congress and many other
buildings throughout the country today. It is a reminder that we must
never forget our obligation to care for our service members and their
families.

Every
Administration has engaged in a sustained effort to achieve the fullest
possible accounting of missing service members by locating, recovering,
and repatriating their remains. We
must hold our government accountable and determined to fulfill the
nation’s duty to its veterans and bring closure to the families of these
brave service members. The overwhelming majority of missing in action
are veterans of the wars in Vietnam and Korea, and the Second World War.
Over 80,000 Americans remain missing and on this day we honor their
brave service - they will never be forgotten.It
is imperative that the nation strives to acknowledge the service and
sacrifice made by service members, their families, and civilians who now
volunteer to shoulder the burden. That we pay our respects to the
fallen, and that we meet our sacred responsibility to care for the
wounded. What can you do to help?